


Heaven Help a Fool

by angstkingsfanfic



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester Fight, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt Spencer Reid, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Love Triangles, Major Original Character(s), Minor Sam Winchester/Original Character(s), Mutual Pining, Oblivious Spencer Reid, Original Character-centric, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Sam Winchester, Protective Spencer, Sam Winchester Needs a Hug, Sam Winchester is Bad at Feelings, Slow Burn, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Werewolf Garth Fitzgerald IV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 11:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20388700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstkingsfanfic/pseuds/angstkingsfanfic
Summary: "She can't possibly be in love with him, right? I mean, Sam is an accomplice to his brother's crimes," Spencer asked no one in particular as he paced around the room.Derek sighed, "I don't know, I mean, the way she looks at him is almost how she looks at you."





	1. Ophie or Lia

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I just want to throw this info out there; I have just moved away to college and have started my classes this week! While this is v exciting and wild, it means that I don't have as much time to sit down and write. I apologize in advance if my updates on any of my stories are slow, but I will do my best to update as often as I can! ALSO, I greatly appreciate any comments I get, they really motivate me to work on a particular story! If you have any thoughts or reactions you wanna share, please do! (I'm going to post this note on my next few updates so I'm sorry if you're reading more than one of my stories and see this a few times lol). Thanks for being amazing you guys! -Cas

Ophelia bounded out of the elevator, more excited and later than she normally would. She had her satchel slung over her left shoulder and a small box rested in her right hand. It was the reason she was so late this morning; she spent way too long trying to wrap it. She smiled brightly to Penelope as she made it to the door of the BAU. “Morning Pen,” She said in a chirp yet oddly tired tone. 

“Morning, how’s my favorite songbird?” She asked as she pulled open the door. Ophelia’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. Penelope had recently caught her belting out Panic! At the Disco songs when she thought she was alone at work late one night. 

“I’m doing okay,” She said with a hint of nervousness in her voice. 

Penelope raised an eyebrow at her, “Do I detect a twinge of anxiousness oh mighty profiler?”

Ophelia’s shoulders relaxed a little bit at Penelope’s funny wording, though she was right. “For not being a profiler you sure are good at picking up on things Pen.”

“Well, I have to have learned something from hanging around you all for this long. What’s on your mind Fitz?” Ophelia began to fidget and looked down at the small box in her hand, “You’re stressing about giving Spencer his birthday present aren’t you?” Ophelia gave her a small nod, in return, Penelope rolled her eyes. “Come on Ophelia! You literally have no reason to be nervous. Spencer is totally in love with you and he’s going to adore whatever you got him!”

The slight pink tint that had been on her face was now a bright red, “Penelope! Would you keep it down! He’s literally like 10 feet from us!” She whisper yelled.

Penelope laughed at her panic, while Spencer was indeed about 10 feet away, he was completely absorbed in a conversation he was having with Elle and Derek. He wasn’t going to hear anything that the two of them said. “Deep breathe Fitz I was just giving you a pep talk.”

“I know, but there’s no way he actually likes me let alone loves me Pen, so while I know you mean well I would appreciate if you didn’t say things like that,” Ophelia explained.

“For a profiler, you sure are blind when it comes to romance. I know you won’t let yourself see it, but he likes you and you like him. If you two were a normal pair of humans you would be on like your fourth or fifth date already, but because you both just love torturing yourselves, you’re still in the awkward best friends who are mutually pining state,” Penelope said in an almost scolding tone. Ophelia didn’t know what to say, “I’m going to leave you to go talk to him now, good luck sugar!” Penelope said before she spun on her heels and headed towards her office. 

Ophelia turned around to face Spencer and the others. JJ had just set the cake down in front of Spencer, Derek was lighting all the candles, and Elle was sitting against a desktop talking with the group. Ophelia had only been on the team for the last six months, but they had become like her family. Even though she was very close to them, she still got nervous at moments like this, moments where she was vulnerable for them to perceive and judge. She knew they could never think badly of her because of the gift that sat in her hands, but she was still incredibly nervous about how Spencer would react. She had never said the words “I like Spencer” out loud to anyone because she was honestly confused about her feelings, but Penelope and Derek always insisted on picking on her for how she acted around her genius best friend. “Hey pretty girl, you coming over or are you just going to stand there like a lost puppy?” Derek teased once he noticed her. 

Her face continued to be red as she walked over and joined the little celebration, “I didn’t look like a lost puppy,” She mumbled to herself before she made it over. Once she was there, she put a big smile on her face. 

“Make a wish!” Elle said as Spencer smiled up at Ophelia. It looked like he wanted to say something, but his attention soon turned to the cake in front of him on the desk. He looked adorable as he attempted to blow out the candles with his birthday cake hat on. Ophelia soon realized that they were trick candles as Spencer failed to get any of them to go out. 

“Come on man. Blow, baby blow!” Derek egged him on. 

“I thought you were full of hot air Reid,” Elle said getting in on it as well. 

“Com on Reid!” Derek teased again. 

Ophelia chuckled and rolled her eyes, “Spence they’re trick candles, they won’t go out permanently. They are just trying to mess with you.”

“Aww best friend to the rescue,” Derek said as he messed with Spencer’s hat. 

JJ moves to cut the cake as Ophelia gets the courage up to talk to Spencer, “Hey Spence, can I talk to you for a minute?” 

“Yeah of course,” Spencer said as he stood up from his chair. The two walked a few feet away from the rest of the group. Derek was taking a few quick glances at them, while Hotch and Gideon were just blatantly watching. It made her more nervous, but she kept it together. “Sorry if I seem a little more nervous today than usual. I was trying to figure out what to get you for a while and I ended up with this. I hope you like it. Happy birthday, Spencey!” The smile she gave him as she handed him his present made his heart sore. He wasn’t one for relationships or crushes, but there was something about this girl that kept him on his toes. 

“Thank you, Lia,” he replied with a soft smile as he began to open it. Her heart grew soft at the nickname, no one else in the world called her that. She watched him closely as he lifted the lid off of the red bracelet box. His eyes filled with an emotion that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she could tell it was a positive one. He pulled the silver locket bracelet out of its case and used the button on the side to pop it open. Inside was a picture of the two of them. It was a candid photo that Derek had taken of the two them while they were laughing at an inside joke that no one else on the plan got. They were looking at each other with happy faces as they laughed. It was her favorite picture of the two of them. His eyes met hers as a wide smile made its way to his face, “This is amazing, thank you so much.”

“No problem Spence, I’m glad you like it!” she said with a smile as a wave of relief washed over her. 

Spencer put on the bracelet and when he looked up it looked like he was going to say something else when JJ’s voice called out to the pair, “Hey Fitz can you go grab plates? I got the cake server, but left the plates sitting in a stack on the counter in the break room.”

Ophelia masked the disappointment in her voice, “Sure no problem!” She turned her attention back to Spencer, “I’ll be back in a few and we can all have cake.” Spencer watched her leave until she was out of sight before he went to talk to Gideon. While he had been talking to Ophelia Hotch left to take a phone call, so he could have a nice one on one chat.

“You having fun?” Gideon asked as Spencer stood in front of him.

“Yes Definitely. I am definitely having fun,” Spencer replied awkwardly.

“Make a wish?” 

“Can I take this hat off?” Spencer asked as he looked up towards the brim of the hat.

Gideon looked toward the item of clothing before looking back at Spencer, “I wouldn’t.” Spencer smiled a little at him. “What did Ophelia give you?”

Spencer lifted up his arm, showing Gideon the bracelet that hung off his wrist, “It’s a locket bracelet. There’s a picture that Morgan took of us inside.”

Gideon smiled, “That’s a good gift.”

“Yeah, Lia is always so thoughtful,” Spencer mused.

“You know you’re the only one who calls her that,” Gideon stated.

Spencer shot him a confused look, “What do you mean?”

“You’re the only one in the world who calls her Lia. She told me that awhile back. She finds it endearing,” Gideon explained.

“Endearing? What-”

“Hey Spence, first piece for the birthday boy!” JJ said with a smile as she held out a piece of cake towards him. 

“You know JJ and Lia are the only people in the world who call me Spence,” He said with a soft chuckle before heading over to rejoin the party.

Lia smiled at him as he took his cake from JJ. They were all talking quietly as JJ started to hand out pieces to the rest of the team when Hotch got off the phone, “Sorry guys,” he said in a bit of a somber tone, “Party’s over.” 

The whole team quickly made their way to the conference room, Ophelia suddenly glad she had worked up the courage to give Spencer his present before this case started. She and Spencer walked into the room together, sitting in chairs next to each other like they so often do. “We’re going to San Diego,” Hotch said as he and JJ came into the room.

“Not for the surfing huh?” Derek asked. 

The team starts to dig into the case, six women in three weeks. This guy had a short fuse and it was getting shorter. The team needed to act fast to catch this guy. They were all quickly swept to the plane, to get on the way and to get brainstorming about this guy’s profile. As Ophelia sat down on the plane she felt her phone vibrate. She looked at it to see it was a text from the person labeled ‘Sammy’ in her phone. She smiled widely as she read the text.

Sammy: Hey Ophie just checking in to make sure you're doing alright. Call you tonight?

Ophelia: I should be the one who’s checking on you lol

Ophelia: getting on a plane for a case now, if I can I will answer

Ophelia: I miss you guys

Sammy: Sounds like a plan

Sammy: hope you can answer, I miss you too

Ophelia blushed at the use of ‘I’.

Ophelia: the plane’s about to take off, biya Sammy

Sammy: Have a safe flight. Bye Ophie

“If I didn’t know better I would say you just got a text from your boyfriend by the look on your face,” Derek teased as he sat down across from her and Spencer sat down next to her. Spencer looked at her curiously, could she have really been texting a boyfriend? 

“Haha, you’re hilarious Derek. I just got a text from an old friend I haven’t heard from in a while, that’s all,” Ophelia explained. It was technically true, she hadn’t heard from Sam in a while and he was an old friend, but Sam was also the reason that she couldn’t decipher her feelings for Spencer. She thought about both of them and her brain would jumble up all her thoughts. She would be talking to one of them and as if on cue the other one would send a text. She didn’t know how to process her feelings and she was pretty done trying to.

“Sure pretty girl,” Derek said with a smirk.

“I don’t know why you’re acting so smug, I’ve never had a boyfriend nor did I tell you the gender of the friend I was texting,” She clapped back.

“Your level of sass tells me you’re hiding something,” He replied as the plane started it’s take off. She was surprised that Spencer wasn’t cutting into this conversation since he was very much in the circle, but nonetheless, she was about to fire back when Hotch started to talk. 

“Brenda Sams was found yesterday by her children when they got home from school. She had been strangled with a thin ligature, possibly a wire.”

“No weapon left at the scene,” Elle added.

“Residue on the wrists and mouth indicate that duct tape was used and then removed,” Spencer said, speaking up for the first time since he got on the plane. Ophelia watched as he messed around with the bracelet on his wrist nervously. What was he thinking about that had him anxious already?

“Also not found at the scene,” Hotch stated.

“Brought it with him, took it with him,” Elle answered.

“He also started leaving messages at the fourth scene. This was on the mirrors,” Hotch said as he held up a picture of the writing. “Fair lady throw those costly robes aside, no longer may you glory and your pride. Take leave of all your carnal vain delight-”

“I have come to summon you away this night,” Ophelia and Spencer finish in unison. They both flush red before Spencer speaks on the subject of the poem, “Ah it’s a ballad from the late 1600s. A dialogue betwix death and a lady.”

“A 17th-century ballad,” Elle said with an unsurprised yet confused tone. She wondered how both of them knew the lines of that poem. “I expect that from you Reid, but you knowing the words too Fitz caught me off guard.”

“I’m full of surprises. The ballad’s storyline is essentially a woman begging death to live,” Ophelia explained with a proud smile on her face. Her minor in literature and her many nights at Spencer’s reading books were coming in handy.

“Exactly,” Spencer said with an approving smile as Elle asked another question.

“So aside from those two, what kind of person knows this ballad? Are we looking for a literature professor?”

“Well anyone with an internet connection actually. You should see what comes in when you type ‘death’ into a search engine,” Spencer said when an awkward chuckle. Ophelia found it oddly charming. 

“Reid no wonder you can’t get a date,” Derek teased. Ophelia rolled her eyes at his remark.

“Reid, Fitz, you stay on the messages, see if there’s a deeper meaning,” Gideon said. He knew that it would be beneficial to put them both on that task because they bounce ideas off each other, but he also hoped more time together would help further their relationship. 

“Well, it definitely looks like he ransacked the crime scene pretty well,” Derek pointed out as he held up a picture of stuff spread out all over the floor. 

“A lot of damage done and nothing taken,” Hotch pointed out. 

“The eyes are the thing, the signature,” Gideon said, “the behavior that isn’t necessary for the murder, but necessary for the emotional release. That’s what he’s there for.” Ophelia shuddered a bit at the thought, which didn’t go unnoticed by the doctor sitting next to her. He gently placed his hand over hers, while is was smooth, it didn’t go unnoticed by Derek, but he kept his mouth shut. 

Just a smirk played at his lips as Spencer spoke and Ophelia’s cheeks turned pink. “There used to be a wildly held belief that the eyes record a snapshot of the last thing a person sees before they die.”

“Yeah that’s right, people used to write poems about talking to death,” Derek entered.

“Ballads,” Ophelia and Spencer said at the same time. Ophelia giggled before continuing, “Similar, but not the same thing my dear Derek.”

“Whatever. Would you two just get married already?” Derek fired back. 

“You think they’ll ever run out of things to do to their victims?” Elle asked, saving Spencer and Ophelia from having to respond to Derek’s comment.

“Well, finding new ways to hurt each other is what we’re good at,” Gideon replied. A heavy silence falls over the plane. Ophelia turns her back away from the conversation and Spencer follows suit. Spencer’s hand was still placed gently over hers as she used her other hand to put her earbuds in. She never thought about moving her hand, but for a split second, she thought about leaning her head on Spencer’s shoulder. She quickly decided against that though, leaned her head back and closed her eyes as “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage” by Panic! At the Disco started playing in her ears. 

~ ~ ~

Task Force Headquarters  
SAN DIEGO POLICE DEPARTMENT

“My name is death! Have you not heard of me? You may as well…” Spencer mumbled the lines of the ballad to himself. They were all placed on the board, along with what crime scene they came from. 

“This ballad is so beautiful, it kind of makes me sad that it’s being used in such a horribly context,” Ophelia expressed as she too read over the words, silently unlike Spencer.  
“Yeah, it’s a great piece of literature. Though it seems like some parts are missing from what the unsub has written,” Spencer replied.

“Yeah… this is only one side of the conversation. The unsub is only writing out the parts of the conversation coming from death. Do you think he sees himself as death or feels like the bodies are answer enough that he doesn’t need to put the lady’s response?” Ophelia posed.

“Could be either, I’ll go talk to Hotch. Good work Lia,” Spencer said before he walked away. 

“Are you two lovebirds ever going to admit it?” Derek asked as he and Gideon walked over.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Derek,” She replied, turning her attention back to her work.

“You are both unbelievable. Gideon tell her they are unbelievable,” Derek said, turning to the senior agent.

Ophelia listened curiously, but didn’t turn to face them, “We have a crime scene to get to Derek.” Derek rolled eyes, but turned to leave with Gideon. 

“You see it too right? Those two would be great together if they would just admit that they like each other,” Derek said as they walked towards the exit.

“I agree, but while there is adoration behind Ophelia’s eyes when she looks at Spencer there is also something else that I can’t exactly put my finger on. She’s the newest member of the team and she’s by far the youngest. We don’t know a lot about her past yet, though I can tell she has definitely experienced some sort of significant trauma. On top of that there’s something in her childhood or teen years that’s keeping her from admitting to even herself that she truly likes Spencer,” Gideon explained.

Derek was surprised by how much the senior profiler had thought this through, “Do you have any idea what it is?”

Gideon shrugged as he got in the car, “It could be a lot of things. I’m not a mind reader.”

“Do you think it’s something she would open up about to one of us?” Derek asked.

“If she opens up to anyone about trauma and whatever goes along with it, it would be Spencer,” Gideon stated.

“I hope she does soon,” Derek mused as they began the drive to the crime scene. The detective was quiet in the passenger seat.

“I do too, though I theorize she’s very used to keeping her emotions and thoughts bottled up. It’s hard to get her to tell you if she’s feeling tired or not, let alone trying to get her to talk about painful memories. She’s 21 years old and has two master's degrees and is on her way to a Ph.D. while working for a prestigious unit of the FBI, yet it’s hard for her to open up about small things like if she got enough sleep or if she’s hungry.”

“Do you guys always profile each other?” The detective cut in.

“Only when we’re worried about one of our own,” Gideon answered solemnly as the trees and buildings flew by his window, “But back to the matter at hand…”

~ ~ ~

“Hey, Lia… can I ask you a question?” Spencer asked as the two sat in rolling desk chairs pulled up to the working boards.

“You just did,” She teased. 

He sighed, “I mean a more personal type question.”

She put down the papers she had been working on, “Sure Spence, what’s on your mind?”

“You’ve been on this team for half a year and you’ve never expressed that you have or had any close friends or family outside of the team… so if it’s not too invasive of me to ask, who were you texting this morning on the plane?” He asked. He didn’t look up from his paperwork, he was too nervous about what look she might shoot him. 

“It was exactly who I told you and Derek it was, an old friend. We talk pretty intermittently because our schedules don’t really match up, but I’ve just been worried about him. He recently lost someone close to him and he went silent for a long while. I thought something might have happened to him or he might have done something stupid you know? So… I just got really happy when I saw that text from him this morning because I now know he’s doing alright,” She answered.

He nodded, “I’m sorry for his loss, I hope that wasn’t too personal.”

“Thank you, you’re fine Spence I appreciate your interest in me. I mean, before you he and his brother were my only real friends. Now I have a whole team that’s my family, it’s not just my brother and me anymore you know?” 

“Just your bro-”

“Derek and Gideon are back, we should tell them about what we were questioning,” She said as she stood up.

“Right,” Spencer said as he followed suit, slightly annoyed by their timing. “The verses,” Spencer said as he and Ophelia approached Derek and Gideon. 

“Got something?” Gideon questioned.

“We don’t have an answer, but we have a question,” Ophelia responded.

“We found the full text, he’s pretty much following it to a tee, at least the death side of the conversation,” Spencer explained as he should Gideon the written form of the ballad.  
“But?”

“Why didn’t he leave them at the first three murders?” Spencer inquired.

“The ballad is 10 verses long if you’re just looking on the death side. There’s plenty to work with so why didn’t he? If it’s not part of his signature what’s the purpose of it?” Ophelia started.

“Yeah if it’s not something that he has to do for an emotional reason, why even start?” Spencer finished.

“JJ, find out when the press ran the first story on this unsub,” Gideon said after thinking for a second about what Spencer and Ophelia had proposed.

“When?” She questioned.

“After which victim?”

“Yeah, you got it.”

“What are you thinking?” Derek questioned.

“The unsub wasn’t getting enough attention,” Ophelia chirped.

“Police departments sometimes don’t even realize they are looking at a pattern,” Spencer added.

“Yeah until somebody tells them,” Derek finished.

“The story ran the morning after the fourth victim was found,” JJ chimed in.

“The increased patrols didn’t start until after the fourth victim either,” Derek stated.

Gideon nodded, “The police didn’t realize what was happening, he writes his verse-”

“Everyone knows he was there,” Spencer voiced.

Just as they were figuring stuff out, Hotch and Elle came in to tell them that the newest crime was committed by a black male and he wore a ski mask, neither of which fit the profile they had been creating. This didn’t phase Gideon though, he had a plan to draw the Tommy Killer out. 

~ ~ ~

Derek and Elle went out to get the 20-year-old man who committed one of the crimes, but not the rest of them. They planned to draw out the killer by making it seem like they thought this man committed all of the crimes. This should work because according to this unsub’s profile he wants the attention of the public and he would be furious if he thought that the police were going to give someone else credit for his crimes. While they were waiting for them to get back, they were all sitting around the office, throwing out ideas and answering the tipline when it rang. Ophelia was bored out of her mind and she was still reeling from what she almost spilled to spencer earlier when her personal cell phone started to vibrate. She pulled it out of her pocket to see that it was Sam calling, “I’ll be right back Spence,” She said to her best friend before getting up and going to a person-less corner of the station. She clicked answer.

“You let it ring so many times I thought you weren’t gonna answer,” Sam’s calming voice said from the other end of the phone.

“Sorry I was trying to find a place we could talk for a minute in private. We are still working a case and I don’t think we’ll be calling it a night anytime soon,” She said honestly.

“I’m sorry I wish you got to take some time off to breathe, like even for a night,” He replied.

“I really don’t mind most of the time. My team are good people and we do good things,” She answered.

He nodded even though she couldn’t see it, “Are you sure you’re alright?” Sam asked bluntly.

“What do you mean?” She questioned, honestly confused by the suddenness of his words.

“I just… I worry about you. You’re younger than me and you’re going after the real monster of the world,” He said honestly.

“Sammy you say that like I wasn’t a hunter. I can handle a few serial killers, I’ve handled worse by myself and I’ve got a whole team behind me. Besides, I’m the one who should be worried about you… how are you doing?” She asked before she bit her lip.

“I’m okay. Dean and I are both okay,” He said with a soft smile.

“Good. Don’t do anything stupid to where I would need to come save your asses okay? I really don’t have time in my schedule this month… though I would make time if you needed me, I care about you a lot… ah both of you I mean,” She said in a soft tone. Sam had broken her walls a long time ago, something Spencer was trying to do now.

“We’ll be careful I promise. You watch yourself okay?” He said as his brother signaled they needed to leave for a hunt, “I have to go, but call me if you need anything okay Ophie?”

“I will. Say hi to Dean for me.”

“Done, bye dork.”

“Bye dipshit,” Ophelia said with a smile as she pulled the phone from her ear. As she smiled a the conversation, Spencer who had overheard the tail end her half while printing some papers a little ways away, began to frown.


	2. Forgetful

Spencer quickly headed back to the desks where everyone else was sitting and waiting for the unsub to call in. He didn’t want Ophelia to think he was purposefully listening in to her conversations, so his pace was as fast as it could be. He sat down in a chair at the desk he had been at earlier with Elle. He picked up the rubix cube he had been messing with earlier as he set down the copies of a few crime scene photos that caused him to overhear Ophelia’s conversation in the first place. He sighed as he sat for a minute and fiddled with the pieces of the cube, he thought Ophelia should be back by then, but he guessed after the call ended she went to the bathroom or something of the sort that was delaying her arrival back at the main part of the station. “You seem tense,” Elle spoke in Spencer’s general direction.

“Do you think it’s weird that I knew that ballad?” Spencer asked instead of really responding to her statement.

“I don’t know how it is that you know half the things you know, but I’m glad you do,” She replied with a soft smile.

“Besides it’s not like you were the only one who knew it, Fitz knew it too.”

Spencer gave her a small nod, “You think that’s why I can’t get a date?” He fully ignored the second part of her statement.

Elle noticed this, Spencer would usually jump at the chance to talk about Ophelia, “Have you ever asked anyone out?” She questioned cautiously, curious to see how he would respond.

“No.”

“That’s why you can’t get a date. If I were you, I would ask out the one other person on the plane who knew the ballad. It shows how much you two have in common. It’s worth a shot,” She answered. 

“You know, everyone keeps saying that, but I really don’t think she’s as interested in me as everyone seems to think,” He said with a bit of a harsher tone than he meant to have.

“What are you talking about pretty boy?” Derek asked as he used his feet to roll his chair over to the desk that Spencer and Elle were splitting. 

Spencer set the Rubix cube down and began to fiddle with the bracelet Ophelia had given him, he stayed quiet for a moment before repeating the words that were mocking him from the phone call, “I would make time if you needed me, I care about you a lot… ah both of you I mean.”

“I’m not sure I understand Reid,” Elle stated, “What are those words from?”

“Those are Ophelia’s words. When I went to make copies of the pictures we needed I overheard her on the phone. I didn’t mean to… I just…” Spencer sounded defeated as he finished his sentence. 

“Reid don’t give up just yet. Remember you only heard part of her half of the phone call. You don’t know what the person was saying or what their conversation before what you heard was about. You also don’t know who she was talking to Spencer. Aside from that, that birthday gift she gave you screams ‘I like you’ so I don’t think you should rule that out yet,” Derek explained. 

“Yeah I just-”

“Hey!” the detective whisper-yelled to signal that it was the unsub on the phone. The team flew into action, all ready to listen and hope that Penelope could get a trace on where he was calling from. Everyone abandoned the conversation they were having about Spencer’s failing love life due to this, but the thought that Ophelia might be seeing someone never really left his mind. 

It especially didn’t help when Ophelia came into the room after the call had ended. He wasn’t paying attention to the fact that everyone was disappointed that Garcia hadn’t been able to track his location or the harsh words about being death that came out of the unsubs mouth, he could only think about someone else getting to take her on all the cute dates he wanted to take her on. He wanted to be the one to take her to cute little coffee shops and family owned bookstores. He wanted to be the one to watch Doctor Who on the couch of their shared apartment until she fell asleep on his shoulder, but all he could imagine was some mystery man getting to do that stuff. It made his chest feel tight in a way that was hard to explain, almost like he couldn’t breathe. “What’s happened? Why does everyone look so sad?” Her voice sounded so small.

“Where were you Fitzgerald?” Hotch asked in a meaner tone than Spencer thought he meant to.

“I got a personal phone call I really needed to take so I stepped ou-”

“We are in the middle of an investigation, specifically we were all supposed to be here taking calls and figuring out anything else we could about the unsub and you thought it was a good time to take a personal phone call? You may have passed our initial expectations, but you’re going to have to do better than that if you want to keep your place on this team Agent Fitzgerald. You were given an opportunity, don’t squander it for something unless you somehow believe that it is worth more than the life of an innocent woman this unsub is planning to go after tomorrow,” Hotch scolded. Deep down Ophelia knew this wasn’t how Hotch normally was, she knew was just under a lot of stress and she did something that would normally be a small deal, but that hurt, a lot.

Ophelia couldn’t look him in the eye, “I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say to make it better, she didn’t think there was anything else she could say. Hotch began to realize how harsh he sounded as he looked around at the looks the rest of the team gave him. He started to say something, but Ophelia was half way out of the room by the time he started.

“That was rough Hotch,” Derek spoke up, “Go easy on the kid. We all have lives outside of this that we have to check up on and take care of sometimes.”

“I know I snapped,” Hotch said with a sigh, “Reid could you-” He was going to ask Spencer to go check on her but he was already going after her. 

“Lia wait up!” Spencer called, but she didn’t slow down. She was b-lining for the single person gender-neutral bathroom. 

Spencer realized that door locked unlike the main gendered bathroom doors and no one would be able to follow her. “Lia hold on!”

But it was too late, she had made it inside the bathroom and had locked the dorm. Spencer tried to pull on the handle. “Come on open the door Lia.”

No answer. Spencer let out a sigh and put his back against the door before sliding down it to sit on the floor. Little did he know Ophelia had done the same thing on the other side, “You think Hotch is really that mad at me?” Her voice sounded scared, “I don’t want to lose this job.”

“You’re not gonna lose your job over a phone call Lia,” he replied calmly through the door. He desperately wanted to ask about the phone call, but he knew should refrain. “Hotch is just stressed right now because our plan to catch the unsub didn’t work. I’m sure this will blow over once we catch him.”

“Yeah…” She replied quietly.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a soft tone.

It took her a minute to respond, “I miss my family. I don’t really talk about them all that much because I never get to see them and it kinda hurts to not really be in their lives, you know?”

Spencer thought carefully about what he should say, “I heard that we might be getting a vacation soon, maybe you could go visit them then?”

She smiled a bit, “Yeah that would be nice. Ever since my parents… it’s just been me and my brother and few tight knit family friends. I went to high school with our family friend’s adopted sons and we were pretty much inseparable at that time. If I wasn’t with my brother I was with them and vice versa. Even when I went to college early we were still all super close. Then I moved across the country and I haven’t seen any of them since. My brother travels a lot for work, but it’s never really over here and my two best friends… one of them recently lost his girlfriend to an accident and he’s been roadtripping with the other ever since. So texts and the occasional phone call are all I get… that was enough at first, but I miss them.”

“I’m sorry Lia. I hope you can see them soon. I’ll talk to Gideon and see when that vacation should be happening. I’m glad you opened up to me more though, it’s nice to get to know you better and just know that if you ever want to talk I’m here,” Spencer said kindly through the door. 

“I’m here if you need anything too Spence. Thanks for listening,” Lia responded with a small smile on her face.

“Anytime, are you ready to go back to the case now?” 

She nodded even though Spencer couldn’t see her, “Yeah I’m ready. I’m gonna open the door now.”

Spencer quickly got up and spun around to face the door just as Lia peeked her head out. She smiled at him, her heart was full knowing that he was there for her when she needed him. She couldn’t resist the urge to hug him and wrapped her arms around his middle after she came fully out of the small restroom. He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. His heart was going a thousand miles an hour, but he was happy to stay there as long as they could. “Hey pretty boy, lover girl, are you two coming back or have you decided to run off into the sunset together?” They jumped apart at the sound of Morgan’s voice. 

“We’re coming Morgan,” Spencer replied. He gave Ophelia a soft smile before the two of them headed back to join the rest of the team. 

~ ~ ~

The rest of the case flew by before Ophelia even realized what was happening. The team all went back to the hotel quickly after Spencer and her returned. No words were exchanged between her and Hotch before the team parted ways into their hotel rooms. Her and Elle both fell asleep quickly on the opposite beds in the room they shared, and in the morning they were up bright and early to patrol the neighborhood in unmarked cars. Gideon and Elle were the first to find the unsub and managed to save the victim. The next thing she knew, she was at a bar with her colleagues that night, still no words between her and Hotch and her feeling too sober as all her friends got drunk. Her and Spencer were the only ones completely sober as they sat at the team’s original booth. JJ was talking to a guy that had approached her a few tables over, Hotch and Gideon were talking over whiskey at a table in the corner, Elle and Morgan were dancing with people, and that left the two of them sitting semi-awkwardly at the booth alone. It wasn’t that they felt awkward with each other, it was that neither of them were super comfortable in the environment of this dive bar. Ophelia had been to plenty of spots like this with Sam and Dean, but she still felt out of place. She noticed that both her and Spencer’s drinks were nearing empty. “I’ll go grab us some more drinks, you just had water right?”

“Yeah, thanks Lia,” Spencer replied with a soft smile as she got up to leave. 

“No problem, I’ll be back in a few,” she said before she began walking to the bar. It only took her a moment to weave her way through the crowded room and she was soon reordering drinks. She was waiting patiently for them when she felt a tap on her shoulder. At first she thought it might be one of her teammates, but she was surprised to find none other than Sam Winchester when she turned around. “Oh my god, Sam!” She exclaimed. She was happy to see the younger Winchester in person. He looked tired, but he was in one piece, which was what really mattered at the end of the day.

“Hey Ophie,” he replied as he pulled the small girl into a hug, “It’s really good to see you.”

“It’s really good to see you too Sammy,” She said while they were still hugging. The hug lasted a little too long for what most people would consider friends, but neither of them minded. They were just happy the other one was okay and seemingly happy. 

Sam smiled down at her as they pulled apart, she was saddened by the lack of contact almost immediately, but a smile stayed on her face just at the site of him in person. It had been so long. “So what are you doing in a place like this?” Sam asked, “This doesn’t really seem like a place that an FBI agent would be hanging out.”

“Normally we just head home after cases, but the plane won’t be ready to leave until the morning so my team decided we should all go out and relax. Somehow that landed us all here,” Ophelia explained.

Sam nodded, he shifted pensively, “Do you want to come back to the motel with me? Dean’s hanging out there because he got a little beaten up on this last job and had to sit out of coming to the bar. There’s beer there and we could catch up without having to worry about anyone listening.”

She beamed, “Yeah that sounds good, wouldn’t want any of the team or general customers to get concerned.” She said it in a joking manner, but it wasn’t really a laughing matter. 

Sam offered his hand to her. She knew it was because it was busy and it would be hard to keep track of each other all the way to the door without some kind of physical contact, but she still blushed. She opened he couldn’t see it because of the dark atmosphere in the bar as she took his hand. Forgetting about her team and about Spencer, she let Sam lead her out of the bar and into the night.


End file.
